1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a method and apparatus to manage a user account required to authenticate a user and limit usage of a device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a user environment, a plurality of users may commonly use one device. For example, a multi-function peripheral (MFP) provided in an office may perform the operations of printing, scanning, faxing, and copying, according to requests of many users. An administrator may need to limit functions of the MFP for security purposes, such as to prevent leakage of a confidential document, or for management purposes. For example, User A may be limited to using only printing and copying functions 100 times each and User B may be limited to using a faxing function 50 times, according to the users' respective responsibilities. To accomplish this, firmware of the MFP may be programmed to assign 100 uses of each of the printing and copying functions to an identification (ID) of User A and 50 times use of the faxing function to an ID of User B.
In firmware generally, an operating system and an application of the MFP are not separated but instead are realized as one piece of software. Thus, if 100 uses of the printing and copying functions is to be assigned to the ID of User B, firmware itself needs to be replaced. In other words, it is impossible to amend only the application to assign the printing and copying functions to the ID of User B. However, it is technically difficult for a user to personally change the firmware, and it is time consuming and expensive for an MFP manufacturer to change the firmware.